At the present time, real estate transactions involving the sale of residential real property are generally performed in accordance with the business method disclosed in FIG. 1 (prior art). The transaction is managed by a listing agent, representing a seller who has agreed to list a residential property for sale using the listing agent's real estate brokerage company, which lists or advertises the seller's property for sale on a multiple listing service. The buyer is represented by a buyer's agent who is usually associated with another brokerage company.
The purchase and sale transaction normally commences when the buyer locates a listed property and retains the buyer's agent to represent the buyer, and to manage and ultimately close the transaction. One of the first tasks of the buyer's agent is to prepare a written purchase and sale agreement which constitutes the buyer's offer to purchase the listed property. Most real estate agents today use real estate form documents which have been approved for use by their local real estate board. The buyer's agent may obtain a paper copy of a purchase and sale agreement and manually complete the form document by filling in the appropriate blank spaces, checking the applicable boxes, having the buyer sign the offer, and mailing or delivering the offer to the listing agent. Alternatively, if the buyer's agent has electronic access to the real estate form documents, the offer may be completed by using the agent's computer display device. The completed digital document may then either be downloaded to a paper copy for signature by the buyer, or the buyer may sign the offer electronically. The paper purchase offer is then delivered or mailed to the listing agent, or the electronically completed digital document may be emailed to the listing agent. Similarly, the listing agent may either accept the offer or submit a counteroffer by using preprinted or electronically transmitted forms.
Once an agreement to purchase and sell the property has been reached, each agent independently creates his or her own list of tasks that must be performed in order to close the transaction. Normally, the agents do so by using a paper file folder or file jacket to manually keep track of each task and whether the task has been completed. They also retain a copy of each document they either prepared or received in the file folder. Each agent, independent of the other agent, manually calendars the dates that tasks must be completed and monitors the progress of each task. As a result, an agent is not able to monitor the progress of the other agent in completing his or her tasks. Rather, each agent waits to be notified by the other agent that a specific task has been completed. This lack of coordination between the agents is a significant limitation in the current business model.
Another limiting and inefficient aspect of the manner in which real estate transactions are presently managed relates to the ordering of services from vendors. Current practice requires each agent to contact, usually by telephone, a specific vendor to determine the vendor's availability and then to negotiate a contract, again over the telephone. Once a tentative oral agreement is reached, the vendor will usually mail a written contract to the agent for acceptance by the agent and/or the agent's client. The agent then delivers or mails the signed contract to the vendor. Normally, the vendor will not agree to commence work until the contract is received. Depending upon the complexity of a given real estate transaction, each agent may be responsible securing vendor services from several different vendors, and once the vendors have agreed to perform the requested service, it is solely up to each agent to monitor the vendor's progress. Since time is often the “essence” of a purchase and sale agreement, if just one vendor fails to deliver timely, the transaction may be unfortunately terminated. Thus, the agents must be constantly vigilant and well organized to prevent a default.
Yet another limitation relates to the manner in which the real estate form documents are provided by each agent to their respective clients and to the other agent. In a typical geographical area, there are approximately 30 to 50 different real estate forms that must be timely completed and/or delivered. Again, it is the responsibility of each agent to obtain the necessary form documents and to deliver them timely. The failure to timely deliver any one of these documents may also jeopardize the closing.
An inherent limitation of the current business method illustrated in FIG. 1 is that, due to the complexity and time sensitive nature of each task, it is difficult for agents to manage several real estate transactions at the same time, without substantially increasing the risk that serious errors will be made.
Accordingly, it is the purpose of the present invention to overcome the limitations described above by providing a business method which enhances the efficiency and accuracy of the real estate closing process, and facilitates the agent's ability to manage several real estate transactions at the same time.